Google "The Hacker's Diet." In it, John Walker explains the basics of how it's all about just doing the math every day. I lost 33 lbs last year with a slightly modified version of this method. When I tell people I lost weight, the first words, almost invariably, are, "What's your secret?"

When I say "I counted calories every day" they are underwhelmed. The only other "secret" is that you have to be willing to be -a little- hungry, but not starving.

I do not like upstart or any of the other new sysv init replacements. They add levels of complexity and don't seem to add any functionality that a good shell scripter can't solve with a homebrewed script, for the one percent of boxes that need something custom. NetworkManager took years to "just work" right, especially for wireless. I -still- wind up turning off selinux for some servers due to the hassle.

Some folks appear to be confused by this article, as the headline makes it sound as though if you switch to cambered, you'll get better mileage. Bzzt. This only applies to cars whose tires -happen to be- mounted with negative camber. The tires only reduce the negative camber friction penalty in higher performance cars whose tires were already mounted with negative camber. They do NOTHING for production cars already in existence whose tires are mounted zero camber. This isn't something they're going to do to regular stock automobiles. Negative camber, even with the negative camber wheels, will always have -some- extra friction as compared to zero camber wheels. Zero camber will always get better mileage than wheels with negative camber.

History's Coming To writes: Several writers for the ScienceBlogs.com collective have Publicly resigned from the site, and many more have voiced concerns over parent company Seed's decision to include a paid blog under the nutrition category from PepsiCo. The blog is written by PepsiCo food scientists, detailing their work. The UK's Guardian newspaper has picked up on the story, and includes a letter from Seed editor Adam Bly which covers the company's rationale. Troy McClure has been quoted as saying "Now, turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system?".

It appears that some foreigners just don't learn how to deal with Americans.

About 10 years ago, my colleagues and I went to a Chinese place and sat down to order. The guy came out and said we weren't allowed to switch seats and accused me of trying to leave without paying (I had already paid.) That's the last time all ten of us went there.

I had to go into the emergency room last year. I found that there is a very strict hierarchy there, and that apparently, doing such a thing as a blood test is completely beneath a doctor. No wonder they're displeased at having to use the word, "please." God forbid a doctor condescend to his underlings.

The problem with that is that corporations are NOT held to the same standard us regular folks are. If it had been an individual that had caused the spill and not a powerful corporation, that person would be going down in flames, going to prison for life probably, and would lose everything he or she had, all because of what you call an "accident."

The corporation will get a slap on the wrist, and will find a way to get Washington off the hook. Hell, they've already gotten away with violating the first amendment by threatening to arrest CBS for trying to do their job.